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Let's see some ideas for the Export Window! :)


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Instead of bitching about it, let's see how the Export window could've been done. This is just something I came up in few minutes. I'm quite sure you guys will come up with something much much better. I'll give it some time later on, too!

Ideas for different UI elements are also welcomed!

This is by no means to make fun of Serif's UI experts, just to give them some ideas for parts of UI that could've been done better.

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

 

 

export_preview_1.png

export_preview_2_1.png

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I question the usefulness of the PREVIEW window (perhaps excepting the PDF format and working with multiple pages).

For example, in PhotoLine the regular document view is used to render a (full) preview (optionally in real time while adjusting the values) and the scroll wheel remains usable to zoom in and out.

There is no need for a dedicated preview area in the export dialog in this case.

And of course in Fireworks the export function is a dedicated main view.

 

avif_export.jpg.a8805f91a673f384b94df6aa91f6e08b.jpg

 

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2 hours ago, Mystical said:

I really did like the v1 icons at the top. Was pretty cool and easy for me to switch between.

But becomes unmanagable if more export formats get added over time (as is actively requested by forum users).

d.

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9 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

I question the usefulness of the PREVIEW window (perhaps excepting the PDF format and working with multiple pages).

For example, in PhotoLine the regular document view is used to render a (full) preview (optionally in real time while adjusting the values) and the scroll wheel remains usable to zoom in and out.

There is no need for a dedicated preview area in the export dialog in this case.

I agree - I would really like to switch off the preview since it is not only too big but also pretty slow. 

But I miss gerneral naming  templates, both for directory and file name. Having to go to the "Save As" dialog to export is just to time consuming.

There could be a pathname field which is used unless empty - with placeholders such as 

NAME   (the filename)
DIR   (directory of source)
DIRRAW (directory of first linked RAW image)
DATE
TIME
WIDTH
HEIGHT

So export can be done with just one click and I do not think this is too difficult to implement. 

Without Preview, I  prefer the new export dialog over the old.

 

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4 hours ago, dominik said:

But becomes unmanagable if more export formats get added over time (as is actively requested by forum users).

d.

Well, the V1 Export window on Retina display has a size of 1308x838px and the V2 Export window is 1722x1296px by default (can be resized to be even larger).

I am quite sure that there is enough room for V1 style. There are 11 presets in V1 and 13 in V2 at the moment (where JPEG XL can easily be put together with JPEG).

So if you enlarge this Export window to let's say 1800x1300px there will be plenty of room for preset at the top AND it would create enough space on the left side for Preview - as I tried to mock up above. 

Here is another attempt - I've expanded the window little bit and I was able to fit 14 presets to the top. ;)

 

 

Screenshot 2022-11-13 at 12.57.57.png

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Yes, and the icons could be made smaller to fit a few more in, but regardless you will eventually hit the limit of how many icons will fit without scrolling if you keep adding more formats.

Add support for export plugins and you are sunk.

The benefit of the drop-down list is that it is a well-understood interface paradigm that supports indefinite expansion of the number of supported formats.

Your suggestion also re-introduces the "More" button that people are complaining about left and right.

 

Me thinks more like this (but with a more appropriate title in the title bar - oops...  well, it's just a mock-up 😇😞

image.png.920b56f3efc662f1903655a332df2484.png

 

EDIT: the preset list on the left would obviously eliminate the preset drop-down in the settings area in the middle...

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4 minutes ago, fde101 said:

Your suggestion also re-introduces the "More" button

I, for one, don't want to see the "More" button ever again. Good ridance!

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5 minutes ago, Designer1234 said:

What about horizontal scrollbar? :P 

That would certainly work, but you would lose most of the practical advantages of the version 1 approach as soon as you needed to use it.  The only cited advantage is that the colors make the choice more visible, but when the one you want is scrolled out of view, you would then need to work through the puzzle of which way to scroll and how far in order to reach the icon you are looking for.

A vertical list such as the preset list in my suggestion allows more formats to fit in the window in a relatively neat way, and if you can customize the list of presets and organize it in a way that works for you, not only can you quickly access commonly-used settings, but you can cut back on scrolling by keeping the ones you actually use in the list and close together.

Technically you could do that with the icons as well if you can drag them into some custom order or filter the set in some way, but you would still be more limited in how many you can fit horizontally across the screen.

Smaller icons for the image format could still be included in the list box, as is often seen in other places.

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54 minutes ago, Designer1234 said:

What about horizontal scrollbar? :P 

First off, I am all into a constructive discussion about feature and development ideas. This involves the exchange of arguments pro and contra a suggestion. Each one has to be open both ways. To new ideas and to critizism. Thas said I do consider your suggestion a suggestion.

A horizontal scrollbar is basically the equivalent to a vertical scrollbar and more or less a matter of taste. I admit that I liked the export choices in V1 and considered them to some extent as an icon of the suite. But as a matter of fact it tends to come to limitations at one point.

I think it is more important to generate an uniform design across all kinds of windows in the suite. And I understand that the new 'New dialog' with its vertical arrangement of choices is what Serif came up with. The same way preferences work. In this regard the new export window follows this decision.

d.

Affinity Designer 1 & 2   |   Affinity Photo 1 & 2   |   Affinity Publisher 1 & 2
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Photo 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad

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iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil

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Then fde101 concept is still better than Serif solution because we don't have to expand the preset list each time we change an export format. But in such case I'd indeed make that left side list similar to the preset list in new document window. Hovewer I still don't think that adding scrollbar to icon bar is worse and I also don't think that Affinity devs want to unify all dialog windows. But the new settings window is better, that's true

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6 hours ago, Ana-Irina said:

They could make the icons on the top as a carousel, so that you can scroll through the icons. They could even make the list customisable, so you could choose your most used formats and arrange them according to your needs.

Would be cool if you could favorite export types and those would appear at the top in icon form like classic Photo v1 and the rest are in a list. Best of both worlds.

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3 hours ago, Designer1234 said:

Then fde101 concept is still better than Serif solution because we don't have to expand the preset list each time we change an export format.

click once into the file3 selection, then use your scroll wheel.
449944633_scrollwheelusageafterclickingonceintofilesselection.gif.f07af048aa2cbe53bb7016758ff3f2ea.gif

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5 minutes ago, myclay said:

I would be fine with a top panel which offers a scrollwheel feature ;), saves even more clicks and offers more visual feedback.

Really? Never going to install it again if it's not getting better. Can't have this extra action with hundreds of exports for different formats. V1 would be mast faster. 

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Yes please lets get the export right again!

I must admit: when i first saw the affinity export-window with those icons some years ago, my impression was: okay, this is also for noobs. but actually those icons are great UI!
i'm an ergonomics-nazi and right now i'm dying.
not only it is more clicks now, it also is way harder to find what you are looking for!

additionally i'd suggest:

  • give presets more space and love! i use them, i customize them. drop down-menus are always the worst option, when designing an interface. the only reason to ever use them is: no space. (or little space plus not so important option to select here. but we've got space and an reasonably important option. (at least for power-users.))
    this should be a list, at least 6 rows deep. this way its one click, or scroll + click. or even an extra window left or right, like suggested above, but in context to the format - no openclose-thing. Why? because most of the time, last preset per format is what you need in a session. -> change file-format, press enter.
  • preview - makes sense for compressed bitmaps. but only when it is shown 100% in display-size. i'm unable to zoom to 100%. so initial zoom should be 100% by default and then you add a button to scale to preview window. also standard zoom-shortcuts would be helpful.
  • for files with transparency i'd like to see a preview on solid background. should be switchable, at least dark/bright or so but keep it simple: id go for a palette like [ui -background, black, white, some greyscale, r, g, b, c, m, y] - might already be too much...
  • yes! file-naming-variables would be great for some cases! values stored in document and/or presets. i'd add an incremental counter (for versioning - although i personally use date for that).
  • pleeease add AVIF - every reasonable browser supports it https://caniuse.com/avif, all of the web-guys need it (they probably don't know yet).

right now preset-selection and preset management is not even connected, that's quite confusing: 2042337341_preset-managementinexport.png.2e9486c4eba75ec466b56df9f8895cdf.png

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I would also like to see the file format icons back on top. It really helps to see which file type you have selected at a glance, not to mention, changing file types requires just one click instead of 2. If the decision was made so the UI can more reasonably accommodate for additional file types, then why not add some customisability to it? Most people only really need to use a portion of the file types offered (depending on the industry they work in). This means, there could be a preference option for which file types can be moved to the 'home view'. Any files that are outside of the home view, can be found by clicking on the arrow to the right, which slides the view to the second row of exportable icons. Not having a scroll bar here means, it's just an additional click to get to the less frequently used file types and it won't make the window even larger. Also, given that the export dialog is wider than what it previously was, it can fit up to 4 additional file formats.

 

1400133840_ExportUI.png.315e32ce18312e375efad0b9575bba37.png

 

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